President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a historic new federal law protecting same-sex and interracial couples, 10 years after he admitted on a television show that he was comfortable with such marriages, marking a turning point in both his personal career and the national levels, reports CNN.

Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act in front of thousands of guests on the South Lawn, an event the White House said reflected the importance of the moment.

“Marriage is a simple proposition. Who do you love? And will you be faithful to the person you love?” the president asked from the South Lawn.

“It doesn’t get more complicated than that,” he added.

Biden said the law recognizes that “everyone should have the right to answer these questions for themselves without government interference” and provides “the federal protections that come with marriage.”

“For most of our nation’s history, we have denied these protections to interracial and same-sex couples,” Biden said.

“We failed to treat them with the same dignity and respect. And now this law requires that interracial marriage and same-sex marriage be recognized as legal in every state in the nation,” the head of state said.

The new law officially repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. It requires states to honor the validity of out-of-state marriage licenses, including same-sex and interracial unions.

As a senator, Biden voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Tuesday’s signing of the bill marked the culmination of his transformation on the issue. The bill passed the House with the support of 39 Republicans who joined the Democrats, after the Senate voted 12 Republican senators.

Such a bill seemed unlikely to many in Washington until recently, although public opinion on same-sex marriage has continued to shift over the years, with 68 percent of Americans supporting same-sex marriage. 14 percentage points more likely to be same-sex in 2021 than in 2014, according to polls by the non-partisan, non-profit Institute for Religious Studies.

The push for federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriage has gained momentum this year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, raising new fears that the nation’s highest court will revisit other existing marriage equality rights.

During his tenure as vice president, Biden shocked the country with a surprise announcement he made in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press: the first time he publicly expressed support for same-sex marriage.

“I’m perfectly fine with the fact that men who marry men, women who marry women, and straight men and women who marry another man have the same rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.” Biden said when asked if he accepted same-sex marriage.

The words, which Biden has insisted on in subsequent years, were unplanned and marked a stunning personal development for a politician who voted to block federal recognition of same-sex marriage and previously insisted that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

The interview also proved to be a watershed moment in modern American politics, prompting then-President Barack Obama to adopt the same position days later and giving other national leaders permission to follow suit.